Mexican car dealer mistaken for son of wanted drug lord

Embarrassed Mexican officials have been forced to admit that they had
mistakenly claimed to have arrested the son of the country’s most wanted
drugs lord.

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Elodia Leon Vega holds up photos of her sons during a news conference in Guadalajara, Mexico. Her son, who was arrested a day earlier and identified by authorities as Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, allegedly the son of Mexico's most-wanted drug kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, is not whom authorities claim he is and that his real name is Felix Beltran LeonPhoto: AP

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Mexican navy believed it had captured the son of Mexico's top fugitive drug lord. But it turned out they got the wrong man.Photo: AP

The capture of Jesus Alfredo Guzman, 26, alias El Gordo or The Fat One, had been hailed as a huge triumph by the government and the media on Friday morning.

Joaquin ‘Chapo’ Guzman, head of the Sinaloa Cartel, is Mexico’s most powerful drug dealer and is thought to have a personal fortune in excess of $1 billion. He is listed in Forbes magazine as the 55th most influential person in the world.

The man, presumed to be Chapo’s son, was seized in the early hours of Thursday in the town of Zapopan, on the outskirts of Guadalajara. He had an arsenal of rifles, pistols and grenades and about $160,000 in cash.

“This capture is the result of an intense amount of intelligence gathering over many months, combined with the sharing of information with the United States,” said Jose Luis Vergara, spokesman for the marines, who had launched the raid.

The man's lawyer, Veronica Guerrero, told a news conference earlier her client's real name was Felix Beltran and that he was an innocent car dealer.

His mother Elodia León Vega showed a series of photos of Mr Beltran, and told a local radio station that it was a case of mistaken identity.

“I have all the documents and all the proof they could want to prove that my son is innocent, and they are mistaken,” she told a Radio Formula.

The federal attorney general’s office on Friday evening admitted that the man was indeed Mr Beltran.

The mix-up is a major embarrassment for the government, which has been heavily criticized for failing to contain the violence and flow of drugs since President Felipe Calderon sent in the military to fight the cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Javier Oliva, a political scientist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the botched raid showed how poor the coordination is between US intelligence agencies and their Mexican counterparts.

The US Drugs Enforcement Administration had sought Jesus Alfredo Guzman since he was charged for cocaine trafficking in 2009. The Americans were swift to congratulate Mexico for his capture, and then to ask for his extradition.

“This is really serious. Nothing like this has ever happened before,” he said, wondering how the agencies had announced the arrest without making the proper checks. “The main responsibility here lies with the DEA.”

The arrest came just over a week before Mexicans vote for a leader to replace Mr Calderon, whom the constitution bars from seeking a second term.

Brutal clashes between drug cartels and Mexican authorities have killed more than 60,000 people since the president launched his crackdown on the gangs.

The arrest of Chapo would be a huge triumph for any government – especially ahead of the elections.

“This arrest is all about politics,” said Elodia León Vega, the mother of the wrongly accused. “They just want to win votes.”